1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector in which male and female connector housings of the multi-pole type can be fitted together and disconnected from each other.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 10-72857, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of a connector of the above-described type will be briefly described with reference to FIGS. 19 and 20. A slide cover 3 is fitted over a synthetic resin-made male connector housing 2 in such a manner as to be reciprocatingly slidable. Proximal end portions 4a of a pair of levers 4, which are rotated by the reciprocating motion of the slide cover 3, are respectively supported rotatably on both sides of an upper wall portion of the slide cover 3 through a pair of supporting shafts 3a serving as points of force application. An intermediate portion 4b of each of these levers 4 is linked to a guide portion (a point of action) 5 on either side of the male connector housing 2, and a distal end 4c of each lever 4 is arranged to be engageable with a rib (engaging portion) of a synthetic resin-made female connector housing 7 when the male and female connector housings 2 and 7 are engaged.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 20, the slide cover 3 is formed in a rectangular cylindrical shape so as to be fitted over the male connector housing 2, and a pair of extending portions 3b for enveloping both side portions of the male connector housing 2 are respectively formed projectingly from their side wall portions. As a result, front-side central portions of upper and lower wall portions of the slide cover are cut out in rectangular shapes (these cutout portions are denoted by reference numeral 3c in FIG. 20).
As shown in FIG. 19, a temporarily retained state in which each lever 4 is tilted between a projection 5a of the guide portion 5 and a tapered surface 6a of a lever pushing portion 6 of the male connector housing 2 is a state of waiting for engagement of the male connector housing 2 in the slide cover 3 (a so-called state of waiting for reception). If the slide cover 3 by which the male connector housing 2 is temporarily retained is pushed into a hood portion 7a of the female connector housing 7 in this state, the distal end of the lever 4 abuts against a projection 8a (serving as a fulcrum of the lever) of the rib 8 of the hood portion 7a of the female connector housing 7, and the lever 4 starts to rotate. If the slide cover 3 is further pushed in the engaging direction, the male connector housing 2 is pulled into the hood portion 7a of the female connector housing 7 through the leverage of the lever 4 (the action of the lever in which the supporting shaft 3a for rotatably supporting the proximal end portion 4a of the lever 4 serves as the point of force application, the projection 5a of the guide portion 5 of the male connector housing 2 serves as the point of application, and the projection 8a of the rib 8 of the female connector housing 7 serves as the fulcrum), thereby allowing the two connector housings 2 and 7 to engage each other.
However, in the connector 1, since each lever 4, which is rotatably supported by the supporting shaft 3a of the slide cover, is tilted between the projection 5a of the guide portion 5 and the tapered surface 6a of the lever pushing portion 6 of the male connector housing 2, the state of waiting for engagement of the male connector housing 2 in the slide cover 3 is temporarily secured. Therefore, the force with which the male connector housing 2 is temporarily retained and held in the slide cover 3 is weak, so that there has been a possibility that the male connector housing 2 is undesirably retracted in the rearward direction within the slide cover 3 before completion of the engagement between the two connector housings 2 and 7, making it impossible to engage the two connector housings 2 and 7. In addition, since the slide cover 3 is not provided with a guide with respect to the back-and-forth movement of the male connector housing 2, the male connector housing 2 is liable to assume a state of being tilted diagonally downward in the slide cover 3, so that there has been a possibility of the occurrence of faulty engagement or incomplete engagement between the two connector housings 2 and 7.